Notes on Beauty

I just read an article in a Japanese magazine (in English, of course) saying that the red lip pigment worn by geishas might be the most expensive makeup in the world. It’s an iridescent paste called “beni,” and it’s made from the crushed petals of safflowers. Around 2000 safflowers are needed to make just a few grams of the product (way less than an ounce).

The safflowers are grown in only one prefecture in Japan, and they must be handpicked before sunrise in July. Then, to make beni, they’re soaked, fermented, and reconstituted to obtain the small amount of red pigment. This is how beni has been made since the 1600s, and it has traditionally been available only to geisha, and not to the general public. The paste is applied with a brush, and geisha use it on their cheeks, eyes, and nails as well as their lips. The color you get depends on how much you apply: one thin layer can create a pale pink shade, but a thick layer comes out a fiery scarlet.

Now a 160-year-old company has decided to make beni available to the public. The beni will cost from 70,000 to 300,000 yen (about $700 to $3000), depending on the exquisiteness of the pot it’s packaged in. But the pots hold less than a third of an ounce, which is just enough for 30-50 applications. If you do the math, that means one application can cost as much as $100!

I’m not planning on bringing home any beni as a souvenir, but the article made me stop and think about Japanese beauty products and trends I’ve noticed since I’ve been here. As in any country, some beauty standards are eternal, while others change according to whims and fads.

While things are slowly changing (and I guess making beni available to the public is one sign of it), it still seems as if Japanese women take a lot of their beauty cues and standards from the west. It’s truly a shame, since there are so many very beautiful Asian women. But a lot of ads here still feature tall, blonde, obviously western models. And women’s magazines are chock full of ads for skin-whitening concoctions offered by nearly every big cosmetic company. One woman student of David’s told him how offended she was that westerners think of the Japanese as “yellow,” since, she said, “we are white.” Her insistence, and the desire for pale skin here (many women carry parasols to protect their skin from the sun), betrays a prejudice about the value of skin color, or perhaps a reaction to others’ prejudice.

I hardly see any bleached-blond Japanese women, but brown hair is definitely “in.” Looking at the students in our university cafeteria, for instance, you notice a sea of (dyed) brunette women, and (natural) black-haired men.

Another western-influence trend is emphasizing eyelashes, either with false lashes or heavy mascara. It seems to be an attempt to make Asian eyes look wider and rounder. Pale skin, brown hair, and western-looking eyes seem to be the ideal that young women are striving for. So ironic, because so many western women would love to have the slim Japanese physique and thick shiny black hair!

But there are definitely signs of change, a bit like the “black is beautiful” movement in the U.S. in the 1960s. In addition to making geisha makeup available to the public, there’s evidence that Asian beauty is being more recognized and celebrated.

Shampoo advertising seems to be the harbinger. Earlier in this decade, a new shampoo called Asiance was introduced, with TV ads showing a beautiful Asian model with long swinging black hair getting all the attention on the runway as the blonde western models look on jealously. The company got some flack for its reverse racism, and a second generation of ads showed the blonde models looking happy for their Asian colleague, rather than jealous. But the point was made.

Now Shiseido has a new shampoo called Tsubaki which is also stressing the beauty of Asian hair. The shampoo is made with camellia oil, and the bottle has a distinctly eastern shape and style. All the models used in the print and television ads (mostly famous actresses) are Japanese. The shampoo is only one or two years old, but is already one of the top-selling drugstore brands here (in Japan, Shiseido makes mass-market products, too). Best of all, the ads don’t feature the usual stereotypes of Japanese women in advertising: the schoolgirl, the office lady, the mom. The women in these ads are more multi-dimensional, and the ads have been hailed as revolutionary (although to an American eye there’s really nothing unusual about them). The first round of ads featured a number of very famous Japanese actresses, engaged in all kinds of activities including sports, work, social things, etc. The background music is by the J-Pop group, SMAP, and the ads always end with the shampoo’s slogan: “Japanese women are beautiful.” The shampoo was an instant hit, and a later round of commercials featured the famous Japanese women all wearing beautiful kimonos and involved in more traditional activities like visiting Shinto shrines. The tagline–Japanese women are beautiful–remained, and the message was clear that Japanese fashion and traditions are beautiful, too.

I don’t know if Shiseido’s Tsubaki shampoo ads had any influence, but there are some signs here that traditional Japanese fashion is “cool” again, too. Apparently it used to be that you had to choose between traditional Japanese fashion (kimonos, yukatas, sandals, happi coats, etc.) or more modern western clothes. But now some cutting-edge designers are starting to use traditional elements in their fashions: for instance, using kimono fabric as trim, or putting an obi-style sash on a dress instead of a belt, etc. There’s even a very trendy new athletic shoe that’s styled like tabe socks (with a separation between the big toe and the rest of the toes). It’s a way for younger people who wear western clothes to incorporate their heritage into their overall look.

I’m sure that, as a westerner looking in from the outside, I’m missing are all sorts of fashion cues and messages. But I hope that girls here (and girls everywhere) grow up proud of their own heritage and their own “look.” Japanese IS beautiful. . . and so is black, Latina, Jewish, Indian, etc. etc. etc. Okay, I’ll get off the PC soapbox. Maybe it’s just a case of everyone wanting what they don’t have, the way that women with straight hair always wish that it were curly, and women with curly hair always wish that it were straight. If only it were just a case of the right shampoo solving everything. . .